Much of the discussion regarding advantages and disadvantages of single-sex education comes from Great Britain where there is a long tradition of single-sex schooling.
Britain does a rating and ranking of both public and private schools annually.
Of the top 30 most highly ranked schools in the nation based on test scores, only one was coed.
Many schools in Great Britain have been experimenting with different combinations of coed and single-sex education for different grade levels.
Educators in both Britain and the US are still debating the pros and cons of single gender education.
The advantages of coed education are that the larger schools are more economical to run.
This means improved facilities and equipment such as computers and science materials can be made available.
Another advantage is that students get accustomed to working with the other gender, a more natural situation and one that will be experienced in the workforce.
For this reason, some British schools keep the genders separated until the final grade level and then bring them together in their last year.
Single-sex education appears to have definite advantages for girls.
Girls tend to be more intellectually mature than boys up to the age of 17 and are often distracted by the antics of the boys in the classroom.
In addition, girls are often intimidated by the boys, don't take on leadership roles, and fall into the stereotypical gender roles of low interest in math and science.
In single-sex schools, girls often excel in these subjects.
